


forever and always

by spxcewvlker



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: AU, Angst and Tragedy, Car Accidents, F/M, Feels, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, I was in that mood, Oneshot, Please Don't Hate Me, Please Don't Kill Me, You Have Been Warned, lots of them - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-07
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-11-10 12:12:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11126769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spxcewvlker/pseuds/spxcewvlker
Summary: ”I want you foreverForever and alwaysThrough the good and the bad and the uglyWe'll grow old togetherAnd always rememberWhether happy or sad or whateverWe'll still love each otherForever and always.“[bughead oneshot, au]





	forever and always

**Author's Note:**

> I was listening to a song by Parachute, Forever & Always. That song always managed to bring tears to my eyes, and somehow my twisted heart had to imagine Bughead with that song... don't hate me, you've been warned in the tags.
> 
> beta'd by lusterrdust

    _ **B**_ etty peered down to her hands, which she had previously placed on the table. Her gaze locked on the diamond ring around her finger, and a light smile immediately drew on her lips as her mind took her back to the moment he bent down on one knee and looked into her eyes, asking her the one question she had been dying to hear. But he didn't just ask her straight away. He started with the most romantic words she, herself, would never even have thought of saying.

 

_Betty Cooper, I want you forever, forever and always. I want you through the good, through the bad, and through the ugly. I want us to grow old together. You and me, Betty, forever and always._

 

Obviously, she had said yes. Straight away, with tears glittering in her eyes. After all these years he had finally asked her, and she was beyond excited to start a married life with him, the man who was soon to be her husband.

 

And tonight was a special date to celebrate their engagement, which had been organized by their two closest friends, Archie Andrews and Veronica Lodge. The two were on a promising road towards marriage as well, they were high school sweethearts after all.

 

Tonight, everything was going to be perfect. Veronica made a reservation in a very expensive restaurant in New York called _Le Bernardin_ , and booked them a night at the hotel across the street. Everything had been planned in advance and Betty had been looking forward to it all weekend. She had chosen to wear her prettiest dress, which was white and partly covered of several diamonds. Of course, as such clothing were far too expensive for her bank account to afford, Veronica gave it to her as an engagement gift. Everything, so far, was beyond perfect.

 

—~—

 

Her phone screen indicated 19h13, yet he was supposed to get there at 19h00 o'clock. So where the hell was he? At first, Betty didn't put too much thoughts into this as it was not a secret to anyone that her soon to be husband wasn't exactly the most punctual person ever. But when the clock hit 19h30, all sort of worries filled her mind. She knew for sure that he would've called her if something would've been keeping him at work, but her voicemail was empty, and he wasn't answering his text messages. Maybe he was caught up in traffic and his phone had died? She tried to remain calm. Nothing bad could've happened... _right_?

 

After countless times of glancing outside the window which gave an excellent view on the driveway, her phone finally rang. She didn't even bother to look at the number, she expected it had to be him.

 

"Miss Cooper?" But it wasn't his voice, and for some reasons the tonality used by the man whose voice belonged to made her heart stop.

 

"Y-yeah, um, you're talking to her."

 

"Something happened to your husband, m'am, you need to come right now to the Valley Hospital on the 4th street."

 

She wanted to tell the man that she was only his fiancée, but she couldn't seem to be able to speak a single word. Her fingers went numb and her phone immediately slipped from her hands, hitting the table.

_This couldn't be happening._

 

—~—

 

What followed next was all a blur. She barely remembered getting into the hospital and stepping toward the front desk when two nurses who seemed to be coming from nowhere, led her through a million halls, like a maze that's never ending. They told her what had happened, but she could barely hear them. As though her thoughts weren't following with her body or the things happening around her, it felt like she was stuck in a never ending loop of nothingness. And finally, they turned a corner and stopped in front of an opened door—there he was, laying down in a hospital bed. She tried to keep a straight face as they entered the room; _it had to be a nightmare._

 

Betty hesitantly stepped toward his bed, the bed of the man she was supposed to share the rest of her life with. The beanie boy who changed her for the best.

 

He laid there, his eyes barely opened. But as soon as he saw her it was as though he forced himself to smile at least a little, even though he seemed to be in intense pain. Dried blood covered his chapped lips and his face held many wounds, as though he had just gotten involved in a huge fight. His beanie wasn't on his head anymore and the simple vision almost broke her heart in thousands of pieces; he would only take off his hat to sleep, to shower, or when the two of them would share a moment in which nothing but skin separated their souls.

 

As she sat by his bedside, Betty interlaced her fingers with his and held his hand tightly. Some would even say that she held it _too tight_. She ignored the tears that fell from her eyes or the sobs escaping from her lips. "J-Juggie..." she whispered his name, unable to speak any louder.

 

"Hey, Betts..." he murmured, but it seemed as though speaking was one of the hardest thing to do for him at the moment. More tears rolled down her cheeks as she heard him speak, squeezing his hand once again. "I'm... sorry, I... I couldn't make it in time..."

 

"Don't say anything, okay?" The blonde muttered before brushing away the black hair covering his forehead in order to leave a kiss on his burning skin. "You need to rest now, you're going to be okay..." but as soon as the words came out of her mouth, she wasn't convinced anymore. Was he _really_ going to be okay? She looked up to the nurse standing to the other side of the bed, a file,— _his file_ — in hands. "... Right?" She sill had no idea of what happened, nor what his physical conditions were.

 

"Miss Cooper... has nobody spoken to you since your arrival?"

 

Yes, two nurses had spoken to her on their way to the room, but she couldn't remember much more than "car crash", "critically injured", "alcohol", and "didn't make it". She really wanted to remember more, but then his weak voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

 

"Do you remember... the house on the hillside?" He struggled to ask.

 

Of course she did, how could she ever forget the day Jughead took her to his old tree house in the little charismatic town where their parents still lived, Riverdale, to tell her about the dream he had involving infinite green meadows and a house built on the hillside? A house he promised to be their own, where children would play in the meadow until the last ray of sunshine. And the thought had not left her mind ever since the day he shared it with her. "The house where our children will grow, the house where we will grow old together and stay there forever, _of course_ I remember, Juggie..."

 

He smiled faintly. "Whether... whether we're rich or poor... we'll always remember... t-to love each other, right?"

 

And the sobs came again, hands held tight by the other.

  
"Forever and always..." she whispered, and for the first time in his life, Jughead feared that they would never achieve this dream.

 

So he got an idea, and asked Betty to borrow her cellphone.

 

—~—  


  
Couple of minutes later, Archie and Veronica rushed in the room and each hugged Betty tightly, tears stinging in their eyes.

 

"Do you have t-them?" Jughead asked his redhead friend once their gazes locked. He could sense he wasn't going to last much longer,—he would need a miracle for that,— so he made sure to fulfill the promises he made before it would've been too late.

 

"Of course, man, I do..." Archie trailed off, unable to finish his sentence as he searched his pocket to pull out the two rings his best friend asked for. Everything had happened so fast and the redhead still couldn't fully process what was happening, nor what was going to happen. And nobody really knew for sure.

 

Jughead took Betty by surprise when he showed her the rings, and as much as she believed he was going to live much longer, she agreed to proceed to a last-minute wedding ceremony hosted by their two best friends.

 

Sobs turned to laughs when Archie began reciting a couple of verses which didn't make quite a lot of sense, but nobody really cared. Even the nurses laughed, and that night, many tears, whether they were happy or sad ones, fell on the cold hospital floor.

 

And through the tears that blurred her blue eyes, the blonde looked into her very soon to be husband's eyes. "Jughead Jones, you're the love of my life... I want you forever, forever and always. Through the good, the bad, and the ugly. We'll grow old together, and always remember, whether happy or sad or _whatever_ , that we'll still love each other... forever and always, Juggie... I love you so much..."

 

He looked at her in a way that said everything, with a faint smile on his lips, and weak eyes fighting to stay opened. "C'mere..." he murmured, tears rolling down his eyes. When she leaned closer, he captured her lips into the best kiss he could give her at the moment, a kiss that held everything he couldn't tell her, or didn't have time to tell her. He wrapped her arms around her as tight as he could, never wanting to let go of the beautiful angel who made him a much better person.

 

The beeps were getting too slow, and his voice was almost too low when he spoke what would've been his last words.

 

"Elizabeth Cooper... _my Juliet_. I'll love you forever, forever and always. Please... just remember... even if I'm not there... that I'll... I'll always love you, _forever and always_..."

 

—~—  


  
It was two days before Christmas, and the snow was quietly falling from the sky, covering the busy streets of New York City. That night, a rip formed in the hearts of every souls filling the room where Jughead Jones the third had breathed his last breath, and the world couldn't have felt emptier.

 

And that night, the world went silent.


End file.
